Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul in a meeting in Nigeria underlined continued talks and consultations over the 'Tehran Declaration' on nuclear fuel swap, FARS reported.
During the meeting, the Iranian president thanked his Turkish counterpart for his country's principled stance about Iranian nuclear program, especially the Tehran Declaration brokered by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on fuel swap for Tehran's medical research reactor.
The two presidents in the meeting, held on the sidelines of the D8 summit in Abuja, Nigeria, agreed to continue talks in the said field and other areas of mutual interest.
The Tehran Declaration presented a solution to a longstanding standoff between Iran and potential suppliers of nuclear fuel. According to the agreement signed by Iran, Turkey and Brazil on May 17, Iran would send some 1200 kg of its 3.5% enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for a total 120 kg of 20% enriched fuel.
Based on the Tehran agreement, the fuel swap would take place nearly a month after receiving an official approval from the Vienna Group, which consists of representatives from potential suppliers - France, Russia and the US - and the IAEA as the world's nuclear arbitration and supervision body.
Earlier last month, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast announced that the Vienna Group has reflected their response to Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) through its chief.
Russia, France, and the US, in three separate letters, instead of giving a definite response to the Tehran declaration, have raised some questions about the deal, and Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said that Iran will soon reply to the letters of the Vienna Group.
Yet, some observers say that after the UN Security Council approved a new set of sanctions against Iran on June 9, the Tehran Declaration would remain at the level of a document which would not be implemented due to the West's all-or-nothing' approach towards nuclear deals with Iran.